FONTANA >> There’s a second major question as the Verizon IndyCar Series heads to its 2014 season-finale Saturday night at Auto Club Speedway in addition to who will win the Astor Cup, symbolic of the driving championship.

That’s really the easy one as only three drivers – Will Power, Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud – are in contention. As for the second question, there are quite a few possible answers.

Will IndyCar continue to finish its season before the National Football League starts? Will the series move its current Fontana date to earlier in the season, or return it to a weekend in mid-September or in October?

ACS president Gillian Zucker is adamant the Labor Day date does not work in the market. The track can look back to its history when NASCAR added a second date in 2004 around Labor Day. Initially there were big crowds, but attendance started to dwindle and in 2009, NASCAR move the date into September and November before taking away the date.

“It’s about the fans, and this is not the best date for the fans,” Zucker said during a promotional event last week at a USC football practice with driver Ed Carpenter.

When IndyCar returned to Fontana following a seven-year absence in 2012, the dates were mid-September and mid-November. The initial race drew an estimated 30,000 and the crowd last year grew by 30 percent to about 40,000. Although there is no official word, ACS may be hard-pressed to achieve the 2012 figure.

“You would be hard-pressed to say there’s been a lack of promotion,” said Zucker. “I think we have put more effort into this race than we did either the first two, and that was a tremendous effort. You’re not going to find people more passionate about IndyCar than this team.

“We are doing everything we can to make it successful. ou have to look at one difference; It’s not the marketing, not the promotion, just the different between a fall date and Labor Day.”

She did reveal there has been a dialogue between the track, the only International Speed Corp. property on the IndyCar schedule, and the sanctioning body about a potential date shift. Inside sources within the series have indicated Zucker has asked for a date in early June.

IndyCar has already given that date – the first after the Indianapolis 500 – to the Detroit road course doubleheader, which is promoted by Roger Penske. Texas Motor Speedway, whose president Eddie Gossage also wanted that day, would more than likely follow Detroit.

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Robin Miller, writing for Racer magazine, has speculated Fontana would follow Pocono on the schedule in late July. ACS has never hosted a major event in mid-summer.

The moves are the result of the sanctioning body wishing to end its season before the NFL swamps its television ratings.

“IndyCar feels very strongly, saying it’s the right move for the series, having their season end before Labor Day,” Zucker said. “The weather is just hot that time of year in Southern California. We really need to take a look at what really makes sense for fans for that we may continue to grow the event.

“Despite the race is starting so late (7:20 p.m), it’s not an ideal date for us.”

Parnelli Jones knows the feeling. He was part-owner of a racing team and Ontario Motor Speedway when it started its traditional Labor Day event. Again, there were big crowds in the earlier years and USAC ran nine of its 19 open-wheel races on that date,

However, when CART became the prominent sanctioning body, it ran just one of its three races at OMS on Labor Day. CART did run three races on Labor Day at Riverside International Raceway following the closure of OMS.

“It was hot and a four- or five-day weekend,” said Jones. “It became harder and harder to sell tickets.”

Zucker believes her two-mile track, the fastest closed-course facility in the world, is ideal for a season-finale, which could move to a new event in New Orleans in 2015.

“The competition at our track makes it a great place for IndyCar to host the season-finale,” said Zucker, who got the date and three-year deal when Randy Bernard ran IndyCar. “It’s such a competitive race and such an exciting place to end the season. You would be hard pressed to pick another event that is more competitive, more exciting in IndyCar than ours.

“Certainly the Indianapolis 500 is fantastic spectacle, but in terms of sheer competition, and now with double points, there is no better place to watch an IndyCar race.”